1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet supplying apparatus for supplying a sheet to an image recording apparatus or an image reading apparatus, and a recording or a reading apparatus for recording or reading information on the sheet supplied by using such a sheet supplying apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
In conventional recording/reading apparatuses, a sheet is supplied to the apparatus by means of a sheet supplying apparatus, and an example of such a sheet supplying apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 7-81787. In this sheet supplying apparatus, for example, as shown in FIG. 27, a plurality of films F are stacked on a holding plate 1a of a sheet holding member 1, and regulating walls 1b, 1c for regulating movement of the films are provided along a film supplying direction and a film width-wise direction, respectively. The holding plate 1a is inclined so that an end at which the regulating plate 1c is disposed becomes lower than the other end. With this arrangement, ends (in the film supplying direction) of the films F and lateral edges (in the width-wise direction) of the films F abut against the regulating plates 1b, 1c, respectively, so that the ends (in the film supplying direction) of the films F are positioned in parallel with a main scanning direction of the recording/reading apparatus.
When the film F is supplied from the sheet holding member 1 to the recording/reading apparatus, a second drive source 3 is operated while maintaining a first drive source 2 in an inoperative condition. Consequently, a screw portion 4a is rotated together with a rotary shaft 4, with the result that a slider 6 is shifted to the left together with a nut 5. When the slider 6 is shifted, a pin 7 is shifted to the left in a pin guide slot 8a of an arm supporting member 8 to rotate arms 9, 10 around a support shaft 11, thereby shifting a sucker holding member 12 downwardly. Suckers 15, 16 supported by the sucker holding member 12 via nipples 13, 14 are contacted with a surface of the film F, and the film F is absorbed by the suckers 15, 16 by operating a vacuum pump (not shown).
In this condition, when both the first and second drive sources 2, 3 are operated, the rotary shaft 4 and the arm supporting member 8 are rotated in the same direction, with the result that the uppermost film F is supplied to the recording/reading apparatus. In this case, in dependence upon environmental conditions such as humidity and static electricity, not only the uppermost film F but also second and other films may be simultaneously lifted by the suckers 15, 16. To cope with this, corners of the lifted films F are flexed by a separation pawl 1d disposed above a corner of the sheet holding plate 1a, thereby separating the second and other films from the uppermost film F.
In recent years, in order to improve the ability of the recording/reading apparatus, it has been requested that the film F is supplied so that a tip end of the film F is not inclined with respect to the main scanning direction and that the film F is conveyed in a sub-scanning direction with an optimum posture. However, in the above-mentioned example, when the uppermost film F and the second and other films F are flexed by the separation pawl 1d, postures of the uppermost film F and the second and other films F are deviated from their original optimum postures and, when the second and other films F are dropped, the postures of the second and other films F are deviated from their original optimum postures, with the result that the film F is supplied with an incorrect posture.